That Great Business Show

E186 That Great Business Show with Conall O Móráin

With thanks to Mentorswork.ie - a free government funded mentoring initiative. Check in out.

On this episode, 186, Dan Nugent of Amber Eyewear on why his company is now called EverAmbr. He explains why you should avoid selling 'vertically' where you can run out of headroom. His company was growing at 500% but then he hit the ceiling and sales dropped by 90%. What did he do? He went back into the ring again, but this time selling 'wide', finding sectors that he can keep adding products to sell to. Clever. If you have ambitions to sell Direct to Consumer (DTC) online, you have got to listen to Dan, who tells it 'warts and all'.

His 'hire in a heartbeat'? Jake Browne formerly of Peblo.

Stephen O'Dwyer was born and raised in the leafy suburbs of South County Dublin where there's ne'er a sign of a horse, let along a thoroughbred. However, eating chips with his grandad at Fairyhouse, as a five year old, left its mark and biomedical engineer Stephen has launched Trojan Track, a data driven system using an ordinary mobile phone, that will tell trainers, owners and vets if a horse is injured, even when not seen by the naked eye. His target market is the 800,000 thoroughbred horses in the US (as well as the 16,000 in Ireland, of course) and that's why he's raising €600,000 to bring his company on a worldwide gallop.

His 'hire in a heartbeat'? It must be a bro-love thing as he's chosen PJ Maguire of Moonsyst who was on the same Agcelerator as Stephen at Nova UCD. And, PJ it was who recommended Stephen to us - the definition of a circular economy?

On our Business 101, supported by Big Red Cloud financial software, BRC sales manager Ian Hobbs and Sisgate Pro owner, Liz Lavin, have some great tips about 'taking away the pain' for SMEs, including one we hadn't heard before. Liz explains how she very, very cleverly checks out potential acquisitions that she's looking at. All legal of course. But very interesting. Your company will benefit from these 'hands-on' tips. Ian also says that if you ring Big Red Cloud for advice he'll answer the phone to you. That's service.

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E185 That Great Business Show with Conall O Morain

Roseanne Longmore, CEO and co-founder, Coro - the world's first baby milk flow monitor. Founded seven years ago the company has recently become an 'overnight success' completing another successful funding around, bringing to over €6m funding the company has gathered to bring its unique product to the world's weaning mothers. The size of the market is vast. The work that it has taken to get to this stage is staggering, but as Roseanne says, when you're developing physical product it can up to ten years. This can make getting investment difficult, but the team has overcome this, investors tempted no doubt by the multi-billion Euro market possibility. The product, a flow meter that sits on a silicon nipple barrier, is patented and is being assembled in different locations to keep the IP away from prying eyes. Next stop for the company's growth is that Roseanne may have to head to the US for at least six months, to launch the product direct to the consumer there. They've brought Mary Harney, former Minister for Health, onto the board and she has already made introductions in the US, including to Hilary Clinton.

Her 'hire in a heartbeat', the Collison brothers. However, we recommended their mom, Lily Collison.

TJ Hegarty was half through tell That Great Business Show about his business, Breakthrough Maths, when he opened up about how anxiety had affected his business. It caused him to have a blackout as he drove his car. Never say business isn't tough. Fortunately nothing bad happened that allowed over-achiever (600 point Leaving Cert, 1st Class Honours Ag Science degree) TJ to continue his dream of establishing his business. At school he hated maths and was determined to 'fix the problem'. This week he'll be teaching maths to 4,000 school pupils. His two year old boot-strapped business is turning over €1.5 million already and he hopes to bring that to €5m by next year, at which point he wants VC funding to bring him to the vast US market.

His 'hire in a heartbeat', Michael O'Leary.

With thanks to MentorsWork.ie

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E184 That Great Business Show with Conall O Morain

Creganna is an outstanding Irish success story that not too many have heard of. Founded in 1980 by the late Ian Quinn, he started by making metal boxes that housed early desktop computers. With a couple of 'necessary pivots' along with way, Ian created what was one of the world’s largest maker of heart stents, eventually sold in 2016 for €820 million. Creganna's success was the seed that set Galway as Ireland's medtech capital.

PumpInHeart is the latest heart-related medtech company that's about to fund so it can 'go for growth' in Galway. This 2 year old company has world domination in mind for its tiny pump that fits in the human heart. But to get there they need funds and unusually they're starting to raise cash via the crowdfunding platform Spark Crowdfunding.

Donald Hickey is one of PumpInHeart's founders and he joins That Great Business Show to explain how this now tiny company is raising €3million, hoping to be bought out at €400m...Of course it won't be easy. Like life, there are no guarantees, but for a minimum investment of €100, it could be fun. DO TAKE PROFESSIONAL ADVICE.

Donald's 'hire in a heartbeat' is Galway girl Ellen Roche, a world heart pump expert, now based at MIT. Donald wants to bring Ellen home!

On That Great Business Show we know listener like ‘soft skills’ items like when we interviewed Dr. Brian Pennie about why just moving can change your mood. Brian McGeough took the bull out of team building for us while Dermot Whelan literally stopped us breathing to calm us down. And then the fabulous Dr. Jolanta Burke from the Royal College of Surgeons, had so simple advice (all scientifically verified) about putting a photo of loved ones on your desk to bring you blood pressure down.

On this episode Shane Cradock, one-time Bio-Chemical Engineer who worked with Bord na Mona and Pepisco International, says his subtractive methodology as opposed to the widely advocated ‘additive’ approach can help you take back control, boost your mood and confidence, and ultimately help achieve your full potential. Give him 20 minutes of your time. It could change your life.

His 'hire in a heartbeat'? Paul Cadden, MD of Saba Restaurants

With thanks to MentorsWork.ie

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E183 That Great Business Show with Conall O Morain

Emily Brick, founder, Athena Analytics wants to unlock the potential of every student in every classroom. Using machine learning they say they can help schools understand a student’s unique, individual potential and ensure that no student gets missed within the school system. It's a monitoring tool that creates a student’s baseline potential in each subject and highlights when a student falls below this potential, when they may need further support. This baseline is based on a statistical model built using the exam results of all of the previous results of students on the software. The software is already being used in 400 of the country's 700 second level schools.

Adrian Reynolds, founder, The Lemon Crepe and Coffee Company and Ian Hobbs, Sales Manager, Big Red Cloud

Regular listeners know that Big Red Cloud -Ireland's #1 Cloud accounting software for small business owners, are BIG supporters of That Great Business Show.

With their further support we bring you ‘Take The Pain Away’, a mini-series on how accounting software can transform your business, making it more profitable and giving you back time to grow your business. And the pain for Adrian's small business is altogether too real.

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E182 That Great Business Show with Conall O Móráin

Marion Cantillon, founder Pitseal, makers of a silage pit top-secret sealant (partly seaweed but ssshhh!) that stops the use of plastic. When the cattle eat the seaweed/silage mix so far there's a sizeable cut in the cattle methane's output. She's studying for a PhD in aspects of methane emissions. You can guess which ones.

And, PJ Maguire of Moonsyst, a company that has created a Fitbit for cattle. It sits in the beast's reticulum, a 25 litre sac in the cow's innards, that gathers lots and lots of strange stuff. And he's trialling his bolus on cattle on a 6,000 cow farm in Rwanda. Where else but on That Great Business Show?

And, Gary Ryan, director of AgtechUCD (part of NovaUCD at University College Dublin) explains the challenges of the farming calendar. Another factoid you'll learn is that the Lyons Estate where AgtechUCD is based, is home to Europe's largest man-made (hand dug!) lake. Next up is a programme aimed at 'mid-career' individuals who may have the itch to do something for themselves.

Hire in a heartbeats include Ned Harty, Sam Shine, Denis Brosnan, Conor Petersen and Bill Gates.

With thanks to @mentorworks.ie

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E181 That Great Business Show with Conall O Morain

Marketing Director of PUIG (they own many of the world's biggest perfume brands), Ashley McDonnell on getting a 'no' from PUIG HR ten minutes after submitting her job application. Find out how she got hired five days later.

If you work in TV, wait'll you hear what's happening in China. TV in China is dead. Livestreaming 24 hours a day is the future. And if you're an out-of-work actor, good news. You'll now be working in sales. You'll be expected to sell one product every 90 seconds though. BTW, Influencers remain really, really important. So become an Influencer. The good news, your gifts from the brands will never run out. She's uses Workplace, powered by Facebook, to keep track of her five hundred plus marketers.

Her advice for best platform? The one you hate least! (She does recommend Instagram and the app CapCut)

And, if you're still with us, she says that Blockchain is the next big thing for the luxury industry. It proves your Chanel bag is a real Chanel bag.

Her 'hire in a heartbeat'(s) are @Laoise O Connell and @Amy Jafari , two of her former interns. Hire them now.

We love accessible businesses. We're joined by founders of one such business. Pizza da Piero bases makers Piero (!) and Clíona join Team GBS to explain how they've managed to build a recognised Irish food brand and how difficult it was. Piero has been a baker since 15, he worked in London where he met Cliona 22 years ago, heading for Galway. He worked there for Jimmy Griffin, a man Piero still loves. Piero had the itch though, and had to, had to set up on his own, encouraged by his friends telling him his dough was exceptional. They were first with fresh pizza bases in the chilled cabinet but are now faced with copycat pizza makers. Cliona is a teacher, useful to keep the early stage business afloat, who have been hugely supportive by her school, St. Andrew's College in Dublin. The talked and talked to as many people who they could find. Tip: business people will always help, so long as you're not eating their lunch (or pizza in this case).

They want to get into all @Supervalu (they're already in all Tesco stores). Piero admits he's very conservative, but they are looking at exports. They are already into Indie Foods in Northern Ireland. They have ordered a bread oven, as focaccia making is on their horizon.

Cliona's 'hire in a heartbeat' is Síle Walsh, an 'inclusive leadership' coach

Piero's 'hire in a heartbeat' is his old boss, master baker Jimmy Griffin from Galway.

Kindly supported by @MentorsWork.ie

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E180 That Great Business Show with Conall O Móráin

John Tuohy of OohPod has just raised a further €5.4 million to expand his parcel locker business across Ireland and next to the UK. He has 120 locations at the moment and he wants to get to 300 in the next 12 months. Next he's going to help return items for online shopping companies.

His solution can help you get around those troublsome Brexit taxes. Buy in the UK. Ship to Jonesboro near Newry, collect and go home. Done. And all legal.

14% of the Republic's population go shopping in Northern Ireland. He's also working closely with Lidl and Tesco for space to place his parcel lockers. He talks PUDO as well. Listen and learn.

The BIG news is that OohPod has landed Philip Reynolds as chair. He's the former boss at C&D Foods, a business he sold to Larry Goodman.

And his 'hire in a heartbeat' is Rafal Brzoska.

Niamh Donnelly is co-founder of robotics company Akara. The lengths she has gone to to see how her robots are used, including spending 3 months in a US nursing home, watching how the residents interacted with her robot, and that included doing what the residents did - dinner at 8pm and off to bed at 10pm!

She's been working on her robot 'Violet' for the last three years, proving how effective 'Violet' is in cleaning medical facility rooms. The business is not about cutting out manual cleaners, but helping to turn around hospital beds much, much more quickly. They've already landed their first sale. Their Irish 'partner' at the moment is Donnybrook Hospital, where Niamh would like to live! There are two robots heading to NHS facilities in the coming weeks. The business is 'as a service', so clients don't buy the robots. After the UK, it's on to the vast US market, and maybe even an IPO. But first they need twenty hospitals to work with them.

Outside of health it seems that cannabis growers need UV cleaning for their products.

They have Enterprise Ireland backing and angel funding from Growing Capital. They're funding again, but not telling TeamGBS how much at the moment.

Her 'hire in a heartbeat', Liam Casey, CEO, PCH International.

Supported by MentorsWork.ie

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And, their hire in a heartbeat

Ruth McCarthy, Head of Compliance at Fexco

With thanks to MentorsWork.ie

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E178 That Great Business Show

CEO Paul Merriman, Fairstone Ireland 

A little over a year ago financial planning firm PAX was bought by UK wealth management company Fairstone, the first move for Fairstone into Ireland. And they have ambitious plans for Ireland. BTW, we believe Paul may have broken the Irish speech speed record during our chat! And if Gary Vaynerchuk is listening, Paul would like to hire you.

Gary O’Sullivan, Managing Partner at Sia Partners

The little known consultancy firms Sia Partners have 80 people working for them in Ireland, and going for growth…hoping to double again in the next two to three years. The Paris HQ’d multinational business claims specialisation including in new areas such as the metaverse and the space sectors. Doctor Drone, Bobby Healy of Manna, is Gary's 'hire in a heartbeat'.

With thanks to DeFactoShave.com - the world's best shaving oil.

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E177 That Great Business Show

This is simple.

You have to listen to all of the podcast to find out where to go to live, (and live well) and save tax. There are (plural!) answers from Waterford's Stephanie Wickham who knows these things. The answer may surprise you, but it's so good that Stephanie is taking her own advice!

Separately, Natalie Garland Cooke of NCCO.ie (and Waterford) has advised Stephanie about how to properly use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system that allows her to take two MONTHS off in the sun. And the cost starts at a very affordable €40 a month.

That Great Business Show - making your life a bed of roses!

BTW, they want Aisling Bea and Mary Portas to come work with them, to make your dreams come true.

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